Coolermaster ATCS S4000 - 120.3 internally (and mini review)

Hades · 30 Sep 2006 at 22:27

I thought I'd post a quick mini-review of the ATCS S4000 which I have recently bought. It's hard to find reviews of this case online now so hopefuly this may be of use to someone. I've not had a chance ot resize the pictures yet so I'll just post links to them here rather than add them to the actual thread. They are quitre large!

Introduction

Personally I absolutely love this case. As some of you will know, this is an old skool Coolermaster from their ATCS design team. It's generally acknowldeged that ATCS made some of the best cases in their time and were certainly up there with Lian Li and Soldam's best. Unfortunately they are getting a little old now and on some of the cases the cooling is not as good as it would be today: mainly using 80mm fans rather than the more common 120mm nowadays. I believe the case was discontinued around 2004 although it is still possible to find the occasional example floating around. My example is new and bought last week

Originally this case was listed at £270 and had it not been for the price tag I would have bought one when they were launched. I managed to pick mine up for £150 last week.

The S4000 was Coolermasters foray into the server market. It is an odd sized case. It is roughly the height of a 201 but much deeper and able to take the extended ATX motherboard formfactor. It is also very slightly narrower than most cases. At first this may seem an odd shape. But the reason is that it was designed to stand either vertically as a tower, or to be flipped 90 degrees and slot into a 19" rackmount chassis.

Outside - Front

The case has lovely clean lines and the main distinguishing mark is the milled "mesh" on the front of the door:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_front_angle.jpg
http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_front.jpg

As can be seen the "mesh" is not actually mesh at all. The door is constructed from very thick aluminium and the grill has been milled directly from it. On the inside of the door is a mesh though. This seems to be so that a foam padding can be sandwiched behind it. I think this may be a dust filter of sorts although it could be to deaded any sound:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_door_mesh_inside.jpg

Inside the door is an equally attractive front panel:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_inside_door.jpg

What we can see here is that there are only three 5.25" bays. There is no reset switch either. But remember that this is a server case and so this is not to be unexpected. But note again the middle air vent. This is milled directly into the panel. At the bottom is a mesh. behind this is a 120mm fan which is unusualy for Coolermaster. There are also a couple of other interesting points to note: Behind the 120mm fan is the 3.5" drive bay area holding up to 5 drives. Both this and the 5.25" bay area can be removed from the front (no internal access needed) and rotated 90 degrees. This is necessary when mounting the case in a rack. But this gives a lot of flexibility for a modder too, particularly one looking for watercooling pump space

. Also note the top and bottom Coolermaster brackets. These are not simply part of the style but also offer a practical use - they are handles.

Outside - Rear

Moving to the back we can see it is fairly standard layout apart from the two 80mm fans. This isn't as efficient as a 120mm but its better than most Coolermasters from the era. Again note the fan grills are milled from the panel rather than added on:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_rear.jpg
http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_rear_fan_grills.jpg

Outside - Top

A shot of the top shows the mounting brackets for the rackmount kit. Unfortunately it means that the top looks fairly "industrial" and there are screwholes visible. Note that there is no blowhole. It also gives an idea of the length of the case:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_top_angle.jpg

Internal

Now we come onto the internals. There is one very pleasant surprise here. Because of the length of the case there is a middle section with two 80mm fans blowing over the motherboard. Anyone who has seen the inside of a Powermac G5 will remember that Apple do soemthing similar. The pictures also show the removable top 5.25" bays, the removable 3.5" bays at the bottom and the middle section with venting.

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_internal.jpg
http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_internal_mid_closeup.jpg

However, there are two things which an average case buyer would miss on this case. being aimed at the server market there is no removable motherboard tray and due to the narrower design there is no area behind the motherboard tray to hide the cables.

Conclusion

This case is from the last era of the ATCS design group. The quality of it is superb. The aluminium is very, very thick. I absolutely love the design. It offers tremendous optins for watercooling (see comment foolowing this below). You can clearly see that ATCS were starting to improve cooling on their last few cases. The 120mm front fan would have been quite unusual for its time. The two rear 80mm were dictated by the narrow width of the case. Anything larger simply would not fit. But at least there are two of them. Sadly there is no blowhole but this would have been a hindrance if rack mounted. But the two mid mounted fans are a fantastic addition and would be a big benefit in a watercooled case where the motherboard is generally not cooled as well as one with a large air cooled HSF.

The case is not perfect for the average user. There is no reset button, no removable motherboard tray and the side panels are a little fiddly to remove and put back on. But the rest of the case is superb and the quality can't be faulted.

Now onto watercooling...

Hades · 30 Sep 2006 at 22:28

Having just watercooled my existing ATCS 111 I don't intend to go back to air cooling. But that gives me a slight problem. I refused to cut into the 111 to mount the rad and decided to hang it off the back. This works well on a small case. But the S4000 is already much longer than a standard case. It is longer than my desk and adding a rad onto the back will make it look a bit silly. But I still don't want to cut into the case. For a start I don't have the time (and probably skill!) and also I really can't bring myself to cut up an original ATCS. So what to do?

Radiator On Top

Well just for reference I'll add a picture with a 120.3 on top of the case. I don't intend to mount it here but anyone else interested in doing so to theirs may find the picture useful to confirm a 120.3 will fit easily. The top 5.25" bay would be lost of course. The rad is a Swiftech MCR320 120.3. I'll come onto why I chose this rad a little later but I should point out that the dimensions are slightly smaller than most rads: 410mm in length and 128mm in width. However I can't see a problem fitting any 120.3 in the top. Be aware the aluminium on top is extremely thick at the sides and so cutting into it will be harder than normal:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_120.3_on_top.jpg

Radiator Mounted Internally

Having decided that I'm not going to cut into the case then the only options left to me are to mount it externally or try to mount it internally in the middle section where the two 80mm fans sit. This is what I intend to do. Initially I was going to just take my current Swiftech 120.2 rad and use that. But I decided to try to fit a 120.3 if at all possible. This is for several reasons:

1) I am aiming for as quiet as possible. A 120.3 will allow me to run very slow fans.
2) If I can mount a 120.3 in the middle and then seal the surround, it should create a natural wind tunnel effect: air would be drawn in through the front grill, through the radiator and then vented out the back. With a 120.3 there would be fans top to bottom across the case, blowing air across the entire motherboard. The small seal around the rad should prevent warm air being circulated back into the front of the case if the rear pressure is high due to smaller rear fans (2 x 80mm and 1x120mm on the PSU).

After some digging I decided on the Swiftech MCR320 120.3. This decision is nothing to do with already having Swiftech kit, but for two main reasons:

1) It seems suited to low flow fans. With slighly restricted rear venting there is little point in high flow fans. And I'm trying to go for a very quiet system anyway.
2) The dimensions seem perfect - 410mm x 128mm. This gives slight head room and a small area to the left of the rad where tubing and cables can be routed between the front and back of the case.

As can be seen here, it is a perfect fit. In the picture it's just placed against the case and I've yet to work out how to fix it there:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_120.3_internal.jpg

And there is still just room for the tubing:

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/S4000_tygon_half_inch_routing.jpg

Pump, Reservoir and Fans

I haven't decided on pump or res placement yet. An obvious place is to remove the lower 3.5" bay and put the pump in there. But even though I may move the hdd's to the 5.25" bay (to dampen vibration), I may try to leave the 3.5" bay clear as, despite the full door length mesh, that area will be the main source of cool, clean, air.

For cost reasons I'll probably leave the case fans as standard and undervolt them or run them off a fan controller. But the rad fans will be Nexus 22dba's. These were't quite the quietest I could find but I fell in love with the white blades

http://www.ajb.nildram.co.uk/pictures/atcs_s4000/Nexus_22.8db.jpg

Updates when it's all done

ichabod crane · 30 Sep 2006 at 22:35

looks very nice, i didnt know they could be sort of so easily and cheap when you made me that other other week, but im thinking of maybe using mine soon now so im want more pics please

once all the system is in keep up the good work

Hades · 30 Sep 2006 at 22:53

ichabod crane said:
looks very nice, i didnt know they could be sort of so easily and cheap when you made me that other other week, but im thinking of maybe using mine soon now so im want more pics please once all the system is in keep up the good work

I didn't realise they were still around either until someone pointed me in the direction. I'll try to get the watercooling in there this week. I have almost all the parts but have to rip them out of my current system. I need to get some more tubing as the company I got the Tygon from didn't deliver as much as I ordered :rolleyes:

I also need to work out a way of fixing the rad. I could zip tie it but that would look pants, so I need to get down to B&Q and have a rummage.

ichabod crane · 30 Sep 2006 at 23:04

You not gonna cut a hole on the top of the case and screw it to the inside of it? best way i reckon to do it. thats how i have my setup in my wavemaster at the moment nice and clean and theres plenty of room in the s4000

im thinking of putting two loops on mine a 120.2 in the roof at the front taking up one 5.25 bay, and another 120.2 stoop up where the centre mounted pair of 80mm fans are. but i havent had a good look inside yet about the space and stuff

Hades · 30 Sep 2006 at 23:23

I thought about two loops and decided against it. The performance would certainly be better but I don't want to put anything in the roof. So that option is out. I considered a second small loop with a 120.1 in the lower front bay too but realised that all it would do is blow warm air over my internal rad and restrict airflow. I probably wouldn't get much benefit from that option, especially for the extra cost. But it's something I could add later if needed. The extra space in the case gives so many options

My aim is to watercool it with no modifications externally (except maybe a screw hole or two at most - I'm not going to cut any rad holes in it). When I saw the middle section I just got this idea into my head about putting a 120.3 in there. Maybe it's not the best way for ultimate performance but I just kinda got hooked on the idea

Also it means I can isolate the front and rear sections of the case whcih should promote cool clean air being drawn from the front, through the rad, across the motherboard and out the back in a top to bottom crossflow. I like the thought of it looking completely standard, yet almost silent and knowing there's a massive great rad mounted in it which no-one can see

Then opening the case to a surprised "you've got what in there?"

As for mounting the rad I'm not sure what you mean by cutting a hole in the roof (unless you just mean mount the whole thing there)? But I do have some ideas. Even when the two internal 80mm fans are removed there is still a pair of bars across the middle of the case. The rad will push up against this and prevent forward movement. All I need to do is find a way of clamping it from behind to prevent backward movement. One option would be to screw something into the floor and roof to hold it. I may end up doing that as it would also make it more secure in transport. Or zip ties and elastic may be an option if all else fails.

I think there is another option though... You can't really see it on my pics, but because of the support for extended motherboards, the middle area has screw holes for motherboard standoffs. One of these holes is still accessible after pushing the rad against the bars and allowing space for the fans. I may be able to use this to screw in something to hold the rad firmly. I also intend to put a bead of silicone sealant on the rad wherever it touches the case. This not only dampens vibrations but it's also like a glue - but unlike a glue it peels off easily when required. I often mount fans this way. People laugh but it works

I'd love to see pics once yours is done too. Why put a 120.2 in the roof?I can understand it in the middle because anything taller would prevent a rad in the roof. But if you're going to put something in the roof then why not a 120.3? You're going to lose the top 5.25" bay either way.

ichabod crane · 30 Sep 2006 at 23:46

the 120.2 is personal preference never liked 120.3's lol dont know why its how it is. when mean top mount i cut a whole in the roof that the rad draws air thru so its a permenant housing really if i did. im gonna get started on mine once i finish my wave for the CM MOD 06 comp. so good luck and keep me posted with pics

Hades · 2 Oct 2006 at 01:14

I spent a bit of time mounting the rad tonight. I don't yet know if it will hold ok but so far there's not a screw in sight. I've siliconed the fans to the rad (less vibration than using screws) and now just siliconed the rad to the case. That alone wouldn't be strong enough to hold it but I've also mounted a couple of holding brackets to prevent backward movement. Yep, you guessed it - they are siliconed to the tray

Either it won't be strong enough and I'll have to re-do it all with screws or it will hold too strong and I'll never get it off without silicone remover. We'll see in the morning when it's set. Don't yet have any pics of the mounting. A great thing about using silcone is that it acts as a very cheap and flexible vibration isolator.

The Nexus white bladed 22dba fans are completely silent. They only spin at 1000 rpm so not a lot of airflow each. But as I have three of them I'm hoping it will be enough. I've got a couple of fan controllers and may try them on that tomorrow. But in all honesty they are still silent at a full 12v so I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. But it would be nice to have them spin up and down as required. maybe I should have gone for something faster/louder and let the fan controller step it down as required. But I really like the look of the white fans

A slight downside is that now I have a silent PSU and silent rad fans it shows how loud the case fans are. Even the 120mm in the front is noisey and has a particularly annoying click. I could probably undervolt them (fan crontroller) but I think the click will always be there. So now I'm on the hunt for another quiet 120mm and a couple of 80mm's. Another option may be to remove the case fans completely and let the three 120mm's in the centre do all the work. But so far I've only fired the fans up using a PSU tester to switch them on. So I won't know if that's an option until I move the motherboard over from this PC.

Another downside - with no space behind the motherboard tray it's going to look quite messy in there with nowhere to hide the spare PSU wires. I'll obviously try to tie them up the best I can but I didn't budget for a modular PSU (got this Seasonic in the MM and very pleased with how quiet it is).

So far this is looking like a very quiet machine

p4radox · 2 Oct 2006 at 15:43

I really really like the look of this rig. The internally mounted rad is a stroke of genius! I take it your worked out would fit there before you bought the case?

As for messy cables, just chop em off tbh.

Voltage · 2 Oct 2006 at 15:48

i so miss the old ATCS series of CM cases

truly the finest haly cases ever.....id kill for a black CM110

Hades · 2 Oct 2006 at 16:48

p4radox said:
I really really like the look of this rig. The internally mounted rad is a stroke of genius! I take it your worked out would fit there before you bought the case?

As for messy cables, just chop em off tbh.

Yep I measured it and then looked for a triple rad which would fit. I couldn't be happier with the fit of the Swiftech. It's got enough room at the top and side to route tubing and cabling, while still being a close fit. And the unusual way of mounting it seems to have held strongly. I'll try to get some pics later. I can't build the rest of the kit until more tubing arrives.

I thought about cutting the cables and may do. I also considered modding the PSU to make the cables modular. But tbh with a couple of kids I don't have the time

EDIT: No, I bought the case anyway. I've always wanted one of them but couldn't justify £270 when they were first released. I've also been looking around for something to watercool for a few months, nearly opting for a TJ03 or TJ07. But when I got this I just looked at it and the rad idea sprang to mind

Hades · 24 Oct 2006 at 00:39

I thought it was time for a quick update on this as I'd gone quiet on it for a while. It's now just about complete. I've not had much time to spend on the case due to a 2.5yr old daughter and a 6 week old son

But I finally got everything together and powered up tonight. On the way I had a nightmare problem with a leak from the barb on the rad (also just finding a 3/8" to 1/2" NPT barb was harder than expected - OcUK sell the rad but no barbs and NPT was essential). But that's all sorted now.

I still have a few issues to resolve before being happy with it: (1) The case is still a mess inside and I need to tidy the wires more. (2) My DVD drive failed so I'm waiting for delivery of another, (3) I'm not happy with the res placement.

I wanted to reuse the res from my Swiftech Apex kit but there is literally nowhere to mount it vertically. I've managed to fix a bracket behind the PSU to velcro it onto but it's messy, doesn't look right and obstructs airflow. So I think I'm very likely to order a res to fit in my remaining 5.25" drive bay.

So far I'm very pleased. I haven't really stressed it but the CPU temps are actually slightly lower than my old 120.2 setup. While this may seem obvious the old 120.2 had an external rad and this is literally in the middle of the case . I'm also watercooling the chipset which wasn't the case before. SO far the PWMIC area seems quite cool too which I'm happy about - one of the major design decisions was to mount three large slow spinning 120mm fans just forward of the motherboard. It's all quiet too - very, very quiet. My hdd's are probably the noisiest parts now, along with a slight wind noise (only present with the case sides on so I guess it's turbulence which should reduce when I tidy the internals up a bit). You can tell the machine is on. But only just. It's by far the quietest system I've owned and rivals my wifes Powermac G5 at idle (and blows it away when the G5's fans spin up occasionally). All the fans (rad and case) are powered by a Silverstone EUDEMON smartfan controller. Although even at full speed it doesn't make much difference so the fan controller is probably overkill.

There are a few annoying things to watch out for on this case: (1) The lack of many hiding places for wires makes it hard to keep tidy. (2) The optical drive bay design means normal screws can't be used for securing drives. The need to be flat headed and there weren't any supplied with the case.

I got a cheap "two in one blue and UV coldcathode" kit so decided to mount that. The blue cathode is in the forward compartment which glows through the front grill. The UV cathode is in the rear compartment. I have no side window so it can't be seen. But it occured to me that UV kills bacteria. NO idea if it actually helps keep a watercooled system clean but I mounted it anyway.

Sorry no pics yet. Just powered it up for the first time at midnight so I;ll try to get some shortly (even if not quite finished). So far the number of cuts made to the case is zero and the number of screwholes made in the case is also zero

Mordor · 25 Oct 2006 at 20:26

Beautiful case, really looking forward to seeing the final result. ATCS made some wonderful cases :-)

Noni Juice · 25 Oct 2006 at 20:35

Looks kind of like the Cheiftec ones!

Saw these for £149 somewhere!

bledd · 26 Oct 2006 at 02:49

damn you

i was just looking at this on the auction site before coming in here, saw there's 3 left and figured i'd sleep on it because i'm not working at the moment

saw this thread and jumped in to snap it up incase someone else got there first

now i own CM110 and S4000 -best looking desktop and server cases

lozza · 26 Oct 2006 at 18:57

bledd. said:
damn you

i was just looking at this on the auction site before coming in here, saw there's 3 left and figured i'd sleep on it because i'm not working at the moment

saw this thread and jumped in to snap it up incase someone else got there first

now i own CM110 and S4000 -best looking desktop and server cases

no need to have been so quick - he's got loads to sell has been trying to shift them for ages and has dropped the price by £20 this time lol

Hades · 26 Oct 2006 at 19:12

There's also still a shop selling them.

Great cases though. Wish I could find a 110 too.

allllec · 26 Oct 2006 at 20:31

very, very nice

Urgh - actualy the first case ive seen that make mes regret getting akasa eclipse - well a tiny bit anyway

Hades · 27 Oct 2006 at 00:05

Thanks

I quickly took some more pictures tonight. I haven't cleaned it up yet and haven't tidied the cabling. I also still need to change the res for a 5.25" bayres. But I thought I'd post what I have so far...

No visible rad anywhere...

With the door open you can see the white Nexus 120mm fan in the lower bay. This cools the hdd's and obviously draws most of the air in. Above that is the mid vent (no fan) which also allows air to be drawn in. And above that is the smartfan controller and the DVDRW with Coolermaster bezel. Well it may as well look good even if it's behind a door. The fan controller was chosen partly because it too has passive ventilation holes. I wanted a lot of ventilation at the front because the three 120mm internal fans will draw a lot of air through.

A couple of pictures with the cathodes on. To be honest I probably prefer it without bling lights but there is a switch to turn them off if needed.

Hades · 27 Oct 2006 at 00:06

As can be seen from a side shot it's still a little messy and that res will go shortly, resulting in a lot more tidy tubing. It's actually not just wedged in. I've added a bracket just in front of the PSU and used self adhesive velcro to hold it in place. But a bayres is definitely needed I think. The 120.3 rad and fans can be seen in the middle and the pump is at the bottom in the front section just behind the 120mm fan intake and hdd bays.

And with it lit up. The front section has a blue cathode mounted just in front of the rad and hidden by the middle pillar. It's aim in life is to light the front section and glow through the door. The rear has a UV cathode mounted by the PCI blanking plates and hidden by the rear pillar. It needs a little more lighting. But I'm not really into bling lights and don't have a window so not really bothered. I just came across a cheap kit and thought I'd add it. I will add a bit more UV dye when I change the res.

And lastly a closeup of the mid mounted 120.3 rad, again with white Nexus fans. The air is blown across the entire motherboardcooling the RAM and PWM area, then expelled through the 120mm PSU fan and the two rear 80mm case fans (again Nexus). Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the rear.

Future plans obviously include the change to the res and a bit of tidying up. but I also plan to add a reset switch and CMOS reset switch inside the door.

EDIT: All the fans have been mounted with silcone and no screws used (with the exception of the front 120mm intake as the screws actually hold the bay together). The rad is mounted with silicone and so is the pump. This isolates them from the case and reduces vibrations. Combined with a very quiet PSU, the pump turned low, slow spinning fans throughout and complete watercooling including the chipset, the machine is the quietest I've owned and a real pleasure to use now